


A Tournament Gone Wrong

by MedicDuFresne



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, king AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-29
Updated: 2013-12-29
Packaged: 2018-01-06 13:03:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,908
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1107160
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MedicDuFresne/pseuds/MedicDuFresne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>High King Geoff can access other realms, and uses this power to host tournaments for the other kings of Achievement Kingdom to compete in. When Ray, the Red King, finds himself pitted against Ryan, the king he had  just outted as having a few screws loose when Ray discovered a cow living in a hole in Ryan's throne room, Ray has to survive against the mad man that has Ryan has become.</p>
<p>Done for an art trade with my lovely friend Vero~</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Tournament Gone Wrong

This was a horrible idea. 

A young king with dark hair and a rose engraved into his breastplate sprints through the forest terrain, gritting his teeth every time a stray branch whips across his cheek as he is unable to slow down for fear of letting _him_ catch up. He weaves through the trees, desperate to get as much distance between him and that bastard as possible.

His grip on the hilt of his sword tightens as he ducks behind a particularly large tree to try and catch his breath. The sound of his own thundering heartbeat is deafening, blocking out any other noises as he pulls much-needed air into his lungs.

“Thanks Geoff. Really great time this turned out to be...” he mumbles under his breath. Sure, this tournament was meant to relieve their stress. It was supposed to serve as an outlet to blow off some steam and tension that had been building since Gav’s kingdom was blown sky high. The only thing this tournament was doing though was giving King Ryan- or the Mad King as this young king had taken to calling him- an excuse to hunt down each king and kill them.

Yay.

He closes his eyes and leans his head back against the tree, trying to slow his breathing and heartbeat to a reasonable pace. He knows he can’t keep this up for much longer, he’s going to have to face Ryan at some point. Last he heard King Michael was still alive, Gavin too. King Jack was the first to go, slew by Ryan’s sword within the first ten minutes of the tourney. Of course he wasn’t really dead, the High King’s magic would have brought him back to life immediately; also transporting him out of the arena. The bespectacled king idly wonders if being killed in one of these tournaments hurts just as bad as out in the real world.

The sound of a twig snapping near-bye brings the young king out of his thoughts as his eyes flare open, quickly scanning the trees for any sign of the Mad King. He draws his sword and mentally curses at himself for letting his guard down for even those brief moments.

A dark, muffled chuckle drifts down through the trees, making the hair at the back of the young king’s neck stand. He pivots from the left to the right, making sure to keep his back to the tree as he tries to pinpoint exactly where the sounds are coming from.

“You look tense Ray...” comes from the shadows to the right of King Ray, and he quickly whips around, sword at the ready, to face the Mad King as he walks calmly out from the trees. His armor is splattered with crimson, as is his sword which rests in Ryan’s hand at his side.

Ray narrows his eyes at his opponent behind his glasses, knowing the blood on his sword and armor was too fresh to have been from Jack, whose death took place hours ago. “Who,” is all he says as he motions to the bloody sword in Ryan’s hand.

The grin that slowly spreads on the older king’s face sends a shiver of fear down Ray’s spine, “Our little Heir. Seems Michael was having a hard time cutting him down,” he shrugs with an amount of ease that should _not_ be present when discussing the murder of their friends, “I simply gave him a hand. It was quite easy, he nearly ran right to where I was. Wasn’t off your trail for more than five minutes to finish the job up.”

Ray felt sick. Gavin and Michael were nearly inseparable, but lately Michael had been spending more and more time in Ryan’s kingdom. While this wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, Ray had the feeling that the Mad King was slowly sinking his claws into the surly young king, and that didn’t sit well with Ray at all.

He shakes his head, trying to get the image of a terrified Gavin as Ryan’s sword cuts him down out of his head. He brings his sword up and shifts his weight back onto his left foot, taking up a defensive stance. The Mad King’s killing spree would end here if Ray had any say in the matter.

“And what about Michael,” Ray asks, trying to buy himself more time while he thinks of a strategy that won’t end with Ryan’s sword through the young king’s chest.

Ryan simply smiles and brings his sword up to examine the blood-covered blade, “Oh he’s next. He ran to the mountain region, stick to what you know, I guess,” he laughs and levels his blade out at Ray. “Now, are you going to stand there all day or are you finally done running like a punk bitch?”

The dark haired king’s eyes narrow, his temper spiking. Fuck this. If Ryan wanted a fight, then a fight is what he’s going to get. Ray surges forward, swinging his sword in a great arc only to be stopped in his tracks by a swift perry from Ryan. 

The younger man jumps back and drops back into his defensive stance as Ryan moves forward, bringing his sword up with great force. The sound of metal clashing against metal rings out through the forest as the two kings fight. They were pretty evenly matched, and what Ray lacked in strength he made up for with speed.

A miscalculation on Ray’s part leads to a blow not being parried at the right moment, letting Ryan’s sword dig into the Red King’s shoulder. He lets out a sharp cry and steps back, gritting his teeth through the pain. Ryan just starts laughing at the young king’s pain, the madness showing clear in his eyes under the brunet hair. Another quick blow has Ray’s sword flying out of his hand and sliding across the ground until it hits a tree.

Ray clutches his injured hand and stares down the Mad King, unwilling to back down even without a sword. “There, you’ve had your fucking fun. Go on, kill me.”

The older king shakes his head and starts circling Ray, tsking at him, “So impatient. You think this is the end?” He stops and makes eye contact with Ray, his eyes looking as if there was nothing in them, just a black hole of madness that sent another chill down Ray’s spine, “Oh no, we have yet to even begin.”

As Ray is about to curse at the brunet, Ryan surges at him, making Ray jump back on instinct. His back collides with a tree and suddenly Ryan has his sword pressed against Ray’s neck, enough so that Ray can feel the live metal cutting into the skin and letting blood slowly drip down. “You sick psychopath, what the fuck man?” Ray glares up at him, trying to keep up his brave face with a sword pressed against his jugular- not the easiest thing to do.

“Oh Ray, you never should have called attention to Edgar. No one needed to know about him,” Ryan says calmly as he draws a dagger out from his belt.

Ray watches the dagger as it is brought up to his face, it’s iron blade coming up to rest right under his eye. His breathing hitches as Ryan pushes the blade in just enough to break skin, drawing it down in an intricate pattern while he speaks, “You brought unnecessary attention to me, you know. How rude of you. and here I was trying to help you out. I gave you all that farmland and taught you the inns and outs of being a king. I’ve only been nice to you, and _this_ ,” his word is punctuated by a particularly hard push on the dagger into Ray’s cheek, causing the younger king to cry out despite his best efforts, “is the thanks I get. I should have gone straight to Michael, you know. He was so much easier to corrupt. All that madness just resting under the surface. It’s a wonder it’s never shown itself before now.”

Ryan pulls the dagger back to study his handiwork, and Ray relaxes his wound up muscles for a second, feeling blood slide down the side of his face from whatever Ryan fucking carved into his face. A steady hum of pain radiated out from the carving on the side of his face. He can’t believe this is happening, he knew Ryan was crazy, but this is fucking insane!

The Mad King tosses his dagger into the air and catches it a few times, musing over whatever deranged thoughts must be swirling in that dented tin can he called a head. Ray scans the area, trying to figure out some way to get out of this. The dull throbbing from the half of his face now adorned with who-knows-what was not helping his thought process, and he jumps when Ryan starts laughing out of no where, the sword pressing even harder against his throat.

“You know, Michael using dear ol’ Gavin as a punching bag might actually have been what kept him sane through the years. Figures.” His eyes glint as he leans in, his face only inches away from Ray’s now, “Want to hear a secret?” His voice drops to a whisper and Ray can feel his heart hammering away in his chest. “Michael is going to kill Gavin,” he whispers, “but not in here, oh no. Out there. Where Geoff can’t revive him. He’s going to kill the Heir, and all because I’m going to tell him to.”

Ray’s stomach sinks and his veins turn to ice. No, no no no nonononono, this _really_ could not be happening. His little family was going to be ripped apart at the seams because this _fuck_ was going off the deep end. 

The ice cold dread he was feeling suddenly morphed into bright rage. With a ragged scream Ray bunches up his muscles and pushes Ryan forward, knocking the man back in surprise then following that momentum and pushing the older king back onto the ground. Ray claws at the man and slams him down so that Ray’s knees are on either side of Ryan’s chest, pinning his arms down, and he rains pure hate-filled punches down on the man’s face. “How. Dare. You. Do. This. To. _US._ ” He screeches, all of the pent up anger and emotions from being _right_ all along about this mother fucker was finally getting to Ray, his usual calm demeanor completely out the window as he slams his fists over and over into the Mad King’s face.

Ray only stops his barrage of punches when he feels Ryan start to _laugh_ underneath him. Laugh. Ray couldn’t fucking believe it yet here he was, watching as Ryan laughs uncontrollably even though his nose in broken and bleeding, his lips are split in several places, and he probably has a few cracked teeth. Ray grabs the older king by the collar and wrenches him up, hissing into his face, “What the _fuck_ could you possibly be laughing about?”

The brunet finally stops laughing and looks up at the younger king with a bloody smile, “I’m laughing, dear Ray, because you’re going to be alone. You’re going to be alone and you know it-” he cuts off when Ray slams his head back down on the ground, which only makes Ryan’s laughter start back up again. It wasn’t like a cheesy, movie villain laugh either. No, it was the kind of laughter than can only be produced when someone is so far gone that no amount of help will ever bring them back. Goosebumps break out on Ray’s skin as his emotions pull back and forth from rage, to despair, to fear, then back again.

He’s not sure what compels him to do it, but out of nowhere Ray has the rose he keeps pinned to his lapel in his hand. He looks at it for a second before clenching his fist and shoving the rose, thorns and all, straight down into Ryan’s eye. The man’s laughter instantly turns into screams of pain, and for a second, Ray is able to understand why Ryan likes this, how intoxicatingly _good_ it feels to be the cause of those screams of pain. But it is that exact thought that makes Ray’s eyes widen, and his hand falter for just a second; but a second is all Ryan needs as he surges up, throwing Ray off him and tearing the rose out of his eye.

Ray goes flying back, and collides with a boulder. He gasps in pain as his body slides down the large rock and he lays there for a moment, too dazed to move. Before he can get his reflexes back up, Ryan is standing over him, his sword back in his hand and his right eye completely fucked up from Ray shoving the rose in it. Blood from Ryan’s eye drips down onto Ray’s face, splattering on the carving that Ryan had so graciously marked Ray’s face with.

The Mad King presses his boot into Ray’s chest, pushing down and down until Ray is gasping for breath and clawing at the boot to get it off his chest. The weight was crushing, and he could feel his ribs creaking, not to far from snapping all together. He had done it, he had royally pissed off the Mad King. In some sick way that actually satisfied Ray, at least he was able to get back at Ryan in some way.

“You have no idea what you have done, you stupid, stupid little king. Play time is over kid, it’s time for the big boys, and unfortunately, you didn’t make the _cut.”_ His final word is punctuated by Ryan swinging his sword down and cutting into Ray’s chest. The wound wasn’t deep enough to kill him, but it sure as hell deep enough to make Ray scream like a bitch. 

But Ryan didn't stop there. 

He kept hacking and slicing and carving until Ray had screamed himself dry Ray’s entire world collapsed down to himself and Ryan, and all of his senses slowly started shutting down as all his body could do was jerk and twist over and over again as Ryan’s sword hit its mark. There was nothing but white hot pain and black darkness for Ray, and he just wished for death. Why didn’t Ryan kill him already? Please, please make it stop. He couldn’t bare it anymore. _Please, please no more no please why just stop no no I can’t please stop..._

There was a sudden sharp stab of excruciating pain, one that was greater than any of the previous attacks that went deeper than any wound that had been inflicted on him so far. This one felt like it shattered his very core and ripped through what was left of his resolve, and Ray tried to scream but all that came out was a long line of rasping air. He could feel water running down his face, his own tears; but there was water else where too. He could feel his raw, ravaged skin being hit by tiny droplets of rain, some sliding down his skin and others pooling into the deep wounds in his exposed skin.

_It’s raining_... _maybe I’ll drown..._

There was a voice, one that sounded too far away, and it was almost too muffled to really make out. Somehow Ray could tell though that it was Ryan’s voice, “I’ll be back little king, don’t go anywhere ok?”

 

Ryan tore off a piece of Ray’s ripped up tunic and wrapped it around his damaged eye. He looked down at his handy work with pleasure, the rose he had carved into Ray’s face- for ironic purposes of course- and the words he hacked into the young king’s torso. He checked to make sure Ray was still breathing, by leaning down and listening for any signs of breathing. Satisfied by the shallow breaths and pained, raspy whimpers, he steps back and opens his arms up to embrace the rain. “You’ll be all alone Ray. All alone! I’m going to kill all the kings, just like today!” He screams up to the sky, rain running down his bloodied face and soaking to the rag tied over his eye. “First Jack, then Gavin, then Geoff. Maybe then Michael will be more beast than man and I can spare him, make him my pet,” he looks down at Ray’s prone form on the ground, his chest a gory mess. “Then I will hunt you down and watch as Michael rips your throat out, hell, I think I’ll do it myself. Gotta get your hands dirty at some point. You are going to die alone Ray, and I will be the ruler,” he leans down again and pushes Ray’s bangs off his face where the rain has plastered them against his skin, in a mocking, gentle way. “And just think Ray, this is all because you had to bring up Edgar.”

He stands back up and walks away, knowing he has to find where ever Michael ran off to so he can kill him before coming back and finishing off Ray if he hasn’t already bled to death. As he walks away he recites what he had hacked into the young king’s body, screaming it to the sky for all to hear.

“Edgar is the one in the hole.”


End file.
